The membership has had a great debate going about the idiots in Washington who are unable to do the job they were sent there to do. I share some of the interesting responses here:
_________________________________________
For 2011, US Federal spending is projected at $3,818.8 billion. Therefore, $3.8 trillion just for the year 2011. Of that, $107.2 billion will go to families and children (not just inner city, but rural as well). That equates to 2.8% of the total budget. At the same time, defense spending amounts to $964.8 billion, 25.3% of the total spending.
There is no question about who got our country into our current fiscal difficulties–the people who demanded the elimination of federal regulations, beginning with Ronald Reagan and ending with George W. Bush. The recipients of all those bailouts in the past few years were mostly big financial institutions, the organizations which paid huge bonuses to its top employees, all at the risk of the taxpayers. Further, they continued to pay those same employees enormous bonuses after the bailout, while middle and lower class citizens lost their retirements (e.g. Enron…) and their jobs. Not surprisingly, unemployment claims went up. Yes, the rich are richer than ever.
Lastly, because of our spending on wars (which ‘We The People’ were told lies in order to justify) and bailouts (the result of fiscal improprieties), we, the American people are spending $206.7 billion in INTEREST in 2011, almost twice what we’re spending on aid to families and children. Again, this is the result of Republican fiscal irresponsibility. The wars were waged by Republicans and the bailouts are the result of poor financial management on behalf of the Republicans.There is no arguing any of these points. They are all facts, easy to research, indisputable.
As for the numbers, check them out yourself. Go to governmentspending.com. Forget what anyone else is telling you and do your own research. That’s what Freedom of Information is all about–being informed.
One more thing. Clinton left office in 2008. If the country was most prosperous in the 1950’s, then I retract my previous statement. Instead, I’ll restate it as, Clinton left office with the country more prosperous than it had been in 45 years (not 50).
Now, stop being angry at poor people who never had the advantages of education and culture that you and I had growing up. Get involved and get our spending priorities changed. We need to invest in our future, our infrastructure, our education, if our future generations are to have the lives they deserve. What I’m really sick of is the partisanship in Washington DC. You and I can do something about that. I’m sending out emails and signing petitions almost daily. And I make sure that I’m armed with good, non-anecdotal facts.
I’m reading a great book, Caesar, by Colleen McCullough about the period when Rome moves from a republic to an empire. The parallels with our own times, 2000 years later, are uncanny. If we don’t learn from history, then we are destined to make the same mistakes.